The White House just fired all six Biden-appointed members of the Presidio Trust board, the federal body that manages San Francisco's 1,500-acre crown jewel of a national park. Chairman Mark Buell reportedly received a brief email informing him the terminations were "effective immediately." No ceremony. No explanation beyond what we already knew: a prior executive order labeled the Presidio Trust "unnecessary" and called for its elimination "to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law," citing "waste and abuse."

Let's pause on that for a second. The Presidio Trust is, by virtually every reasonable metric, one of the most successful federal land management agencies in the country. It transformed a decommissioned military base into a thriving public park, cultural hub, and economic engine — largely through private fundraising and public-private partnerships, not massive federal subsidies. Calling it "waste and abuse" isn't just inaccurate; it's the kind of language you deploy when you want to justify tearing something down to build something else.

Which brings us to the obvious question: what's the plan here? As one San Francisco resident put it bluntly, "The only reason Trump would want to do this is because he has some stupid idea of developing or building something in the Presidio and wants yes-men on the Board to rubber-stamp it."

Here's where we'll apply some fiscal conservative realism. The Presidio Trust model is actually good government — lean, effective, leveraging private capital rather than bleeding taxpayers. Blowing it up in the name of cutting waste is the opposite of fiscal responsibility. It's using the language of limited government to pursue something that looks a lot more like cronyism.

But there's also a pragmatic case for calm. As one local noted, "Nothing happens quickly in the Presidio. Nothing happens in the Presidio without a fuckton of fundraising. Firing the current board which had earned donors' confidence means zero local money happening." In other words, this move may be more self-defeating than anything. Donor confidence is built over decades and destroyed in a single email.

Expect lawsuits. Expect stalling. And expect San Franciscans — across the political spectrum — to fight like hell for one of the few things in this city that actually works the way government should.